Museums: 'No secret talks' over Marbles

The British Museum yesterday categorically rejected a claim that it was to give back the Parthenon marbles for next year's Olympic Games in Athens.

Nor were secret talks going on about their long-term loan to a £30m museum being built on the Acropolis, its trustees insisted.

Last year the Greek government dropped its claim to own the 2,500-year-old sculptures - taken from the Parthenon frieze by Lord Elgin in 1801 - in the hope that the British Museum might one day be persuaded to give them back.

Having for years resisted discussing the issue, the museum's new director, Neil McGregor, told the Greek minister of culture that, as one of a handful of "universal, world institutions", the British Museum was the best place for them.

Yesterday, the museum said that although there were discussions about other loans to a cultural Olympiad to coincide with the Games, the marbles were not up for grabs. "The trustees cannot envisage any circumstances under which they could accede to the Greek government's request for the permanent removal of the sculptures from London," a spokeswoman said. "Many artefacts within the collection are indeed loaned to other museums every year. However, many loan requests cannot be met. In addition, the trustees do not normally consent to the loan of objects considered to be central to the collection's purpose." Fiachra Gibbons